The present invention is concerned with a new, simplified process for the concomitant production of certain herbal extracts, and to new products obtainable by the process. The process of the invention includes a novel extraction step with the resulting extracts having use in the preparation of herbal products having medicinal benefits.
The present invention may, in particular, be applied to the production of multiple extracts used in the preparation of the commercial products MLC601™ and MLC901™. MLC601™ and MLC901™ are TCMs comprising nine TCM herbal extracts. MLC601™ and MLC901™ are primarily used in the treatment of cerebral stroke, but various other uses have been reported, including uses described in WO2007/106049, WO2010/053456, WO2010/110755 and WO 2013/141818, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
CN 1965966A describes a process for producing MLC601, comprising the nine herbal TCM extracts of MLC901 in addition to five TCM extracts of animal origin. The process includes a water extraction step which consists of boiling in water nine herbal TCMs three times for 1 to 4 hours each time. The resulting extracts are further processed by concentration, alcohol precipitation, ethanol recovery and drying steps to produce a paste. The five animal TCM extracts are then added, the paste ground into a powder and formed into granules, which are sprayed with volatile oils from Rhizoma Chuanxiong, Angelica and Acorus gramineus, and packing into capsules.
The present process has major, multiple and non-obvious modifications over prior processes to provide herbal TCM extracts which may be incorporated into products such as MLC601 and MLC901.